Spring Proposal in Swallowbrook Read Free Page B

always going to be at her beck and call.

CHAPTER TWO
    M AKING his way back to the light and noise of The Mallard, Hugo was feeling uncomfortable about the way Ruby had risen to her feet and prepared to leave the moment he’d appeared, as if keen to avoid any further contact.
    He’d noticed immediately that the red cape had been discarded for the time being and that dressed in dark blue jeans, a short white jacket and wearing flat walking shoes she looked smaller than when she’d been wobbling on high heels the day before.
    She was attractive in a pale, ethereal sort of way, he’d decided as she’d been making her way through the crowded room towards the exit, and the thought had crossed his mind that the life of the GP was not always easy—would a person as vulnerable looking as Ruby be up to it?
    With his determination still in place to stay aloof, he hadn’t lingered when they’d arrived back at the house and now that was also niggling at him. Ruby hadn’t put a foot wrong since interrupting the free time that he’d been so looking forward to, yet he was treating her as if she had the plague.
    The thought of going back to have a drink with friends was losing its appeal so, turning, he retraced his steps and when Lakes Rise appeared once more he noted that the apartment was in darkness. After checking that it was secure from all angles, he opened his own front door and went inside.
    Lying wide awake up above, Ruby had heard him try the door and thought that with any other man she might have wondered as to his motive, but not Hugo Lawrence. He wouldn’t have any plans to join her, like some predatory types might think of doing.
    The dishy doctor would be satisfying himself that she wasn’t intending seeking him out again before morning, as he’d made it clear that in spite of looking after the basics of her wellbeing he wanted his privacy back as soon as possible.
    Perhaps at some time in the future when she’d got to know him better, and that would have to happen no matter what, with them both working at the practice, she would suggest that The Hermitage would be a better name than Lakes Rise for his beautiful house and see if Hugo thought that as hilarious as she did.
    But there were other things on her mind, much more important than her reluctant host. During the trauma of yesterday and her subsequent extreme weariness she’d put to the back of her mind what the haematology department had said during her check-up at the hospital in the town where she’d been based all the time she’d been studying for her degree.
    It had been nothing new, she’d had the same discussion with similar departments of the NHS that were geared to her potential problem and nothing had happened to make her change her decision.
    But it was still nonetheless heartbreaking because she had to face up to it and accept it for the rest of her life. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t. But one day the test would come and what would she do then?
    Putting aside memories of the punishing past, she reminded herself that tomorrow she would be starting an exciting new life as a doctor in the Swallowbrook Farm Medical Practice, something she had promised herself she was going to do long ago, and maybe the pains and hurts of that other time would seem less if she could make her mark in the medical centre that had served her family so well in their time of need, and with that thought the painful memories came crowding back.
    Robbie had been just a toddler and she’d been fourteen when the nightmare had begun and changed their lives for ever. The family had been on the point of leaving Swallowbrook to move to Tyneside, where her father’s job was taking them, when Robbie had had his first bleed and it had been action stations on Dr John Gallagher’s part without a moment to spare when it had happened. She’d crouched in fear and trembling by his hospital bed, wondering what it was all about, while her frantic parents